A garment refreshing apparatus is a home appliance that stores garments inside, and refreshes garments by removing odors and wrinkles therefrom.
Specifically, a garment refreshing apparatus uses steam and heat to perform straightening of creases and/or removal of odors from the clothes. Garments that are stored within the garment refreshing apparatus are deodorized by the removal of imbedded odor particles, or the removal of wrinkles (producing effects similar to ironing).
Garment refreshing apparatuses can be largely divided into condenser-type and exhaust-type apparatuses, depending on the refreshing method used. That is, a condenser-type apparatus circulates steam supplied for refreshing garments within the refreshing apparatus, and an exhaust-type apparatus exhausts steam out from the garment refreshing apparatus after the steam has refreshed the garments.
A garment refreshing apparatus includes an inner case forming a garment storage compartment, and a steam generator for generating steam. A heater is further installed on the steam generator. A separate water supplying line or a water tank for supplying water is connected to the steam generator. The water that is thus supplied is heated by the heater and converted to steam. The steam removes odor particles imbedded in garments stored within the storage compartment or straightens wrinkles in the garments.
However, in a garment refreshing apparatus according to the related art, a nozzle for discharging steam is fixed, so that the steam must necessarily be applied to the entirety of the storage compartment after garments are stored therein. Especially in the case of a small load of garments, having to apply steam to the entire inner compartment of the refreshing apparatus is a waste of energy resources.
Furthermore, when a user wishes to apply steam locally to only a particular portion of the garments, or steam needs to be applied only to one region of the garments, a user's options are limited because the apparatus is only able to apply steam to the entire interior of the garment refreshing apparatus.